Warner Brothers is retooling its long-in-development project ‘Methuselah’ as a vehicle for Michael B. Jordan. The project has been in the works for years and has passed through the hands of many writers, with various actors, including Tom Cruise and Will Smith, attached. Joachim Rønning (‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’) was expected to direct Cruise. The story centers on a 400-year-old man, “who has managed to survive for hundreds of years, without showing the physical signs of age.”
In that time, he has accumulated vast intellectual knowledge, from multiple languages to the sciences, as well as survival skills.
The Biblical Methuselah lived to be 969 years old. Anthony Hopkins played this character in the 2014 Darren Aronofsky flop ‘Noah’. It’s not clear if this new movie will actually be based on the Biblical character or if it is just borrowing the name. But apparently, Jordan’s version will be considerably younger.
‘Methuselah’ has been compared to ‘Highlander‘ and is being eyed as a potential franchise-starter. Zach Dean worked on an early draft of the screenplay, while Tony Gilroy provided the most recent pass.
Jordan will produce through his Outlier Society banner, which he established in 2016. Joining him will be Heyday’s David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford.
It was just announced that Jordan and Outlier Society were producing an untitled monster movie with ‘Kong: Skull Island’s Jordan Vogt-Roberts directing. Last month, it was announced that they were producing ‘Black Leopard, Red Wolf’, based on the supernatural adventure novel by Marlon James. It doesn’t look as though Jordan will appear onscreen in either of those.
He will star in and produce ‘Journal for Jordan’ to be directed by Denzel Washington, and Gerard McMurray’s thriller ‘The Silver Bear’. He is producing the upcoming Netflix series ‘Raising Dion’ and will make guest appearances. Among his other upcoming films are the historical drama ‘Just Mercy’, action movie ‘Without Remorse’, and ‘Wrong Answer’, in which he reteams with his ‘Creed’ and ‘Black Panther’ director Ryan Coogler.
Are you intrigued by the idea of a movie based on the Biblical figure ‘Methuselah’?
Source: Deadline
